Totally awesome sister that I am, I decided to make a batch of vegan peanut butter cups to send to my younger sis for Valentine’s Day. One batch turned into three, and once the kitchen was covered in melted chocolate and other gooey goodness, I thought I may as well keep going. Still in search of the perfect coconut-filled candy, I had a go at these vegan chocolate bonbons from about.com, and holy guacamole are they delectable!

Much, much yummier and easier to assemble (though still a bit sticky) than the Coconut Cream Patties and Almond Delights I made over the crifsmas holiday. I think the secret is in the coconut: in order to get a smoother, creamier filling, I ran the shredded coconut through a food processor for a few minutes to break it up into smaller pieces. Yum! It’s been less than a week, and the batch I made is almost gone…though I suspect that Shane has been sneaking candy here and there and blaming it on Lemmy.

And yes, I still have yet to take down my holiday decorations! (My book pile, does it look familiar?) Thanks for asking! What with the dreary winter weather we’ve been having ’round here, I need the extra sparkle of gold tinsel and red pom poms, lest I retire to bed until April.

Speaking of, it’s about zero degrees out right now, and our house and patio (not to mention cars, shrubbery, lawn furniture, and basically any stationary object of significant size) is covered in 2-3′ snow drifts. To make matters worse, the back patio is surrounded on three sides, thus creating a wind tunnel effect. I do believe that all the snow on the roof was blown onto the patio. Yuck.

I don’t mind all that much – I’ve nowhere to go, and can wait the snow out for months, need be – but oh, the poor doggies! The snow drifts on the patio are up to their necks, twice over!

While x-mas is oftentimes an excuse to overindulge, this year I went overboard – owing in no small part to the fact that I handmade a number of gifts, including a couple tons (okay, I exaggerate, but not by much) of chocolate goodies.

But let’s begin at the ending, shall we? As in: criFSMas dinner!

I did most of the cooking the day before – which was, for us, the 23rd – so that we could be as lazy as possible the day of. I prepared a deep-dish lasagna feast with tons of veggies (green and yellow zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms and garlic) and plenty of oozy, gooey cheese (in this case, cheddar and mozzarella Follow Your Heart). (Jump to the end of this post for the recipe!)

I also breaded and froze some vegan mozzarella sticks – my first-ever batch – so they’d be nice and ready for their date with the deep fryer next day. Spoiler: they are terribly delicious, and surprisingly easy to make. (Recipe via Hell Yeah It’s Vegan!)

vegan chocolate…drool

Good thing my mother doesn’t read my blog, otherwise she’d find out that she’s getting some yummy vegan peanut butter-filled chocolates for Mother’s Day. She loves Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, but you know, they’re tainted by the suffering of dairy cows. So instead of spending my money on useless baubles and knickknacks she’ll never use, or on non-vegan foods that run contrary to my own personal ethics, I’m going to spring for some gourmet vegan candy. Not only can I sleep easy, knowing that my Mother’s Day gift is helping to support an ethical company, but my gift will also go a long way towards showing my mother how good vegan foods can be.

Of course, you need not limit this idea to Mother’s Day. A vegan food item, given to a non-vegan friend or family member, can help counteract the stereotype that all vegan food is made of broccoli or granola and tastes like dirt. It can be anything: chocolate, candy, baked goods, jerky, ice cream. If the commercial items are too pricey for your budget, make your own dessert and hand deliver it! (I found a mouthwatering vegan peanut butter cup recipe on vegfamily.com – maybe a certain libertarian douchebag would like this make this for my birthday, hmmm?)

PETA is even giving away a vegan chocolate assortment for Mother’s Day – you can enter the drawing here.

Some of my favorite vegan companies are listed in the sidebar, under “Veg*n Vendors (Online)”. If you’ve got a link you’d like to see up there, leave it in the comments!